Rail anchor and spike harness



Oct. 4, 1949. A. GEHNERT 2,433,491

I RAIL ANCHOR AND SPIKE HARNESS y Filed'My 21, 1947 ATI'D RN EYSPatented Oct. 4, 1949 UNITED STATI-:srAv'wrENTk oFFicE y Application May21, 1947, Serial N0. 749,525

4 Claims. (Cl. 23S-375) This invention relates to a rail anchor andspike harness.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple means foranchoring a rail spike against displacement from the tie and outwardlyfrom the rail wherein the same can be easily inserted over the railbottom flange and wherein a minimum amount of material extendinginwardly along the flange from one side of the tie is used.

Other objects of the present invention are to provide a rail anchor andspike harness which is .of simple construction, inexpensive tomanufacture and convenient to use.

For other objects and for a better understanding of the invention,reference may be had to the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a rail with my rail anchor and spikeharness applied to the opposite sides of the rail and to the bottomflange thereof and extending inwardly from opposite sides of the tieover the spikes to be retained within the tie and against displacementfrom the rail.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the rail and looking upon .one endof a tie, and upon the anchor and spike harness of the presentinvention.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken through the rail and on line 3-3of Fig. 2, and upon the rail anchor and spike harness of the presentinvention.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevational view of the rail anchor member.

Referring now to the iigures, III represents a tie over which a rail IIis extended. Below the rail is a plate I2 with which bottom flange I3 ofthe rail engages.

Spikes I5 are extended downwardly through the plate I2 and are driveninto the tie II) so that their heads I6 extend over the bottom flangesI3 of the rail II. In order to retain the spike I5 in place, I haveprovided a spring steel element II having a portion I8 adapted to extendover the head of the spike from one side of the tie and adapted to iitupon the top face of the ange I3. The spring steel strip I'I or spikeretainer is curved upwardly as indicated at I9 so that its outer end 26will engage the top face of the flange and is provided with a centralportion 2l adapted to fit within a recess 22 in an upwardly and inwardlyextending hook formation 23 of a rail anchor 24, Fig. 4. The rail anchorhas a hook formation 25 which will fit the opposite bottom ange of therail. The part I8 of the spring strip or spike retainer has a downwardlybent end 22" which will engage the top surface of the flange I3 so as tospace the portion I8 above the flange surface to accommodate the spikehead I6.

The rail anchor part 24 has a wide flange 21 throughout the extent whichit engages the rail and also in the portion or hook formation 23 whichextends over the spike retainer I'I.

The portion 2i of the spike retainer is indented throughout the lengthof the recess 22 and will be brought to bear within the recess wherebyto depress the portion 2l of the retainer. The sharp ends 2t and 22'will prevent the spike retainer I'I from creeping along the iiange I3.

In order to prevent transverse adjustment of the anchor 24 once it hasbeen mounted upon the bottom iiange of the rail there is provided ashoulder 28 adapted to abut one side edge of the bottom iiange I3.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shallbe understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope ofthe present invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A rail spike retaining arrangement comprising a spike retainerelement formed of spring metal and having a portion adapted to extendalong the ange at the bottom of a rail and over the head .of a spikedriven into a tie and engaging with the bottom flange of the rail, saidspike retainer being bound and having its ends bent downwardly fordig-in engagement with the top surface of the flange to prevent creepagethereof on the ange and a central indented portion, a rail anchorelement fitted under the bottom iiange of the rail and having a hookformation adapted to extend upwardly from the side edge of the flangeand over the indented portion of the spike retainer to retain theretainer in a tightly flexed condition upon the top surface of thebottom fiange.

2. A rail spike retaining arrangement as defined in claim 1 and saidrail anchor formation adapted to extend over the spike retainer having arecess into which the spike retainer indented portion is extendedwhereby to positively lock the spike retainer against lateraldisplacement upon the top surface of the rail ange.

3. A rail spike retaining arrangement as dened in claim l, and said railanchor having a shoulder at the end of the same to which the spikeretainer is attached adapted to cooperate with the edge of the bottomflange whereby to lock the spike retainer against lateral displacementin one direction and toward the center of the rail.

4. A rail spike retaining arrangement as dened in claim 1, and said railanchor formation adapted to extend over the spike retainer having arecess into which the spike retainer indented portion is extendedwhereby to positively lock the spike retainer against lateraldisplacement upon the top surface of. the rail ange, and thel portionsof the rail anchor kengaging with the rai-1 and with the spike retainerand over the recess thereof being wider than the external portionswhereby to provide a large surface contact of the rail anchor with thebottom flange of the rail and with the spike retainer indentation.

ADAM GEI-INERT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

Um STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 1,101,658 Preston June 30, 1914.1,941,103 Moore et al Dec. 26, 1933 2,252,116. Clarkson Aug. 12, 1941

